I had only seen the tunnel in passing. On the very first day of moving to the countryside. Through our family car, as I sat gazing sideways off the road, a wrong turn in the gravelly forest path had led to us going past it. Shrouded by the trees, it stayed hidden from view unless you knew were to look for it.
I had told everyone in the car about it, and all I received in response was, “Mridu, this is an old village. You will find old things. There is nothing worth looking for in there.”
Whether it was my curiosity, lack of anything to do or something else about it that had gathered my interest, I couldn't tell.
So one day, on my way back from the haat, I couldn't resist trying to look for it myself.
Sunlight barely flitted through the thick layer of branches and leaves, making it seem closer to dusk than being just a little late in the afternoon.
And there the tunnel stood, looking old enough to be made in the last century than now.
I walked closer, towards the looming darkness of the semicircular opening, none too inviting. But I suppose, old, abandoned places aren't supposed to be inviting.
I walked ahead in the darkness, hoping and trying my best to walk on a straight path without slipping on the slippery soil beneath and stay away from possible cobwebs.
Maybe, I hadn't been walking as straight as i had thought I was as I accidentally tripped towards one of the sidewalls. Trying to gain my balance, I saw something I couldn't believe my eyes for. Something glowed ahead of me, at a distance that I couldn't decipher to be a few footsteps away. It was like a little wisp of fire, but blue. I wondered to myself if I was dreaming.
I walked towards it, my steps slow. But as I drew closer, it disappeared and then the darkness was filled again with it a few distances away. I walked forward as if in a dream, my feet almost with a mind of their own, wanting to somehow catch it. And what would I do with it? Not important.
I racked my brain for something similar that I had heard of.
I kept walking for what could have been only a few minutes or hours since I first entered the tunnel reaching for it, but never quite able to catch.
Ahead of me, a different scenery came into view.
Had I reached the other side of the tunnel?
Something in my head became sharper, having seemed as if jerking awake from a sleep. And I looked straight ahead. The sky outside was dark blue, perhaps signalling it was dusk already. The ground itself was grassy. I walked forward, a cool wind blew.
Ahead of me were tons of trees. Of origin and type, I didn't even know.
Something called out from the sky. I looked up at a giant owl. But it wasn't its ordinary hooting. There was something strange about it. Something worth goosebumps covering my arms
I stayed hidden inside the tunnel watching as it circled the trees above before flying away.
The blue fire glowed in the path between the trees ahead of me. I looked on for a while.
“Chole ja. Chole ja.”
The voice drifted with the wind, and I decided that these blue dots were better company than random voices from the trees.
I walked the path of the trees as those wisp blue fire led me before hearing shrill noises and haunting calls.
I stayed hidden from view behind a tree as I saw the scene before me. Strange creatures with long untamed hair danced around in circles. Sounds of anklets rang in the forest. The blue wisps glowed around them.
That's when it clicked.
Those wisps, Aleya, I had heard of them only in childhood stories, a long time ago.
If that truly was an Aleya, that owl could have only been a pencha penchi. And with that realisation came a lot of fear. Atleast, my luck wasn't so bad as to me being caught by that.
But I ought not to celebrate so soon.
I turned back, resting my head against the group of bamboo trees when something tapped my shoulder.
My mouth opened in a silent scream.
A headless creature stood before me. It gestured with its hand up where its head should have been. It looked at me for a long time waiting for an answer.
Skondokata, they kept searching for their heads. Perhaps it has been asking me if I knew where it was. But how to tell that I had no idea? And that I was seriously regretting my decision of ever coming here.
The shrieks of glee of the creatures had lowered now. I didn't want to look at them again. Their strange looks and faces, as they swayed to their own beat.
That was when I heard the words I could only expect from my grandma when she told her story in her usual animated expressions or from a folklore cartoon collection on tv.
“Hnau mnau chau, manusher gondho pao.”
I cursed under my breath. At my curiosity. At my lack of any precaution. Just what kind of an idiot was I? To walk in here. my fun adventure, was it? Yeah? Go sit with those strange creatures then, why scared now? What an idiot.
I closed my eyes tight, to forget that strange growling voice, but I couldn't. I had to get out of here. Fast.
I turned, determined to see my way out of that place, when something skimmed my hair that had come loose from the bun I had made of it. In my periphery I saw claw-like hands as I tried to stay still. A fanged mouth hovered over my shoulder in thought as the strange creature continued to mess with my hair.
I couldn't tell what kind of bhoot it was but it had come from the trees.
I could have even listened to that old, wise voice that had spoken from somewhere up the tree. Why was I in this mess? I clutched my little bag tighter, hoping for some miracle to happen.
I stood still, hoping it would move on soon enough, instead it kept at its work saying, “What long hair.”
This could not be real, none of this could possibly be real. And yet here I stood in a forest of spirits, with some leading me places and fantasizing over my hair.
Now, how to get out of here, again?
